The Age of Commercialism

People are voting emotionally.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Although in the '60's I knew famous artists could live in hovels, I never imagined the way Alberto Giacometti (Geoffrey Rush), the famous sculptor/painter, lived. In Final Portrait, his grimy Parisian first-floor apartment is strewn with famous spindly-limbed sculptures amid broken pottery and glass with an easel on which he paints a portrait of his friend, James Lord (Armie Hammer).I am usually critical of stories about painters because these biopics rarely give insight into the artistic process (Girl with a Pearl Earring, Frida, and Pollock among my favorites, but disappointing that way), concentrating rather on the dynamic personal life. However, Final Portrait lets us sit with his subject and ingest the cranky chaos that has already bred world-wide fame.While his wife Annette Arm (Sylvie Testud), is in attendance, the artist carries on at length with a delightful prostitute, Caroline (Clemence Poesy), goes to dives, disrespects money, chain smokes, and generally acts like the Bohemian he is. Such seems the stereotype, but writer/director Stanley Tucci deftly adapts Lord's book, A Giacometti Portrait, to let us experience the disarray of the process that takes weeks. The artist is disappointed multiple times, starts over, yet really believes no portrait is ever finished. Alberto Giacometti keeps us hoping that another day of Lord's sitting will produce a result, yet another day comes and goes into weeks. Lord, a writer, is remarkably patient as we all know genius will not be hurried. When it's over, however, you can bet on its being world-class.Rush is charming as the disheveled genius, while Hammer is handsome, as always, and subdued in the artist's presence. I was not bored for a second because I felt like a visitor witnessing the workings of chaotic brilliance, a true friendship, and the essence of Parisian artistic life. Sit back and enjoy an artist at work. It may seem slow, but it's not.

A simple well written and perfectly acted story of an artist and his need to create and make that creation perfect to his liking.Set in the early 1960's the feel and charm of this film is quiet and unrushed to show a time when daily life wasn't as complex and full of the communication distractions we are saddled with today.This story isn't so much about the artist as it is about the artist nearing his final days and facing his needs.Loved it !

A good one. and the basic motif is Geoffrey Rush who - not surprising - gives the expected Giacometti. the big problem - the fear of Stanley Tucci to make a portrait. only lines. only a decent and seductive sketch. who offers to the viewer many ways for imagine a better film. sure, it is a good invitation for discover the art of a great artist. but the relation between artist and his model is so fragil than nothing does the film more than a good first step. it is the film of Geoffrey Rush. a good thing. but, maybe, not enough.because the force of performance, the try of Armie Hammer to give substance to his character are only shy circles from a large show.

Luckily this movie isn't that long because there isn't that much story. But nevertheless it's interesting for a look a the creative process of one of the most famous sculptors in the world. This isn't a sweeping biopic of the artist's life just a segment.Geoffrey Rush is effective as the sculptor trying to paint a painting and starting over and over again. His subject is an art critic played by Armie Hammer who looks elegant as he poses in his suits. Clemence Poesy plays a prostitute mistress of Giacometti.Worth a watch if you are interested in Giacometti.